Why June 16 leaves me cold

When Soweto is cold with complacency, the whole world becomes indifferent. After all, it is the biggest township in Africa.

Visitors, tourists and foreigners come from far and wide to witness and experience the scene of the most brutal murder to have happened in our history: cold-blooded shooting of innocent children on June 16 1976.

But I know that more black people have been killed by fellow blacks in this part of the world.

In fact, children continue to be bludgeoned to death by their own parents, relatives, neighbours and teachers who fail to light up the flame of self-responsibility, determination, discipline and hard work in their lives.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why people focus on what happened 35 years ago instead of examining what is happening today, here and now.

Anyway, I usually drive passed the Hector Pieterson Memorial that is visited by large numbers of black people once a year, that is, on June 16. This happened, again, this year.

I have come to realise that black people, including leaders and parents are not exactly serious about cherishing their own history and heritage.
Most black leaders, movers and shakers only desire to do something about upholding the memory of the children of 1976 once a year when the eyes of the world focus on what will be happening to remember that tragic day.

The fact that black people themselves only think about June 16 once a year is a serious indictment. In fact, it is an experience that should give us a rich lesson on self-neglect and the memory of forgetting that is prevalent in the black community. The entire leadership of the most powerful youth formation was conspicuous by its absence at the national event this year.

I think it’s time black people, especially in Soweto, move out of their complacency and self-satisfaction with having been the scene of the most brutal moment that changed the course of history and developments in this country.

If we critically think about it, you get the sense that the way June 16 is observed has not taken township people into a new path of thought and action. What is the economic status of a 35-year-old Sowetan who was born in 1976?

The youth leaders of 1976 — now in their 50s — know that the education of the black child, especially in Soweto, has gotten worse.

But on June 16 the memorial is always crowded with well-dressed people from all over the country and world who want to pretend that the day holds historical significance and relevance for what is happening today.

This is self-delusion, if you think about it.

There is neither a link nor continuity between what student leader Tsietsi Mashinini did on that day and what Julius Malema or any other youth leader is doing today.

Unlike the youth of 1976, they’re not rejecting Afrikaans but proudly think and speak in a foreign language called English. In fact, youth formations conduct their meetings in English with no visible presence of translators.

At a very young age the children of Soweto are taught to discard their indigenous language and speak English because it is the language that will open the doors of economic opportunity in the world.

Shockingly, children who do not speak an African language in the townships are considered to be intelligent and articulate and regarded as the face of leadership and vision for the future.

This makes me feel like weeping.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with embracing English as the medium of communication, but something dies in the identity, history and heritage of a people when children as young as five years old are taught to embrace a language that is not their own.

Ironically, the children of 1976 died for demanding to be taught in their mother tongue.

But everybody seems to have conveniently forgotten that.

It is still hard for me to believe that anything meaningful happens on June 16. As usual, there will gigs, music, food and drinks with a few political speeches that look back at what happened 35 years ago instead of telling us about what should be happening today to improve the plight of the black child.

I miss the focus, discipline and selfless sacrifice of the children of 1976 who were very clear about what they wanted: quality education in an equal society.

It is terrible that we all have lost focused and have failed to keep our eyes on the prize: the education of the African child!

I see some of the youth leaders of 1976 today. They have aged and grown to be part of the very racial capitalist system they fought against.

Having said that, I have got nothing against them holding CEO positions or living in exclusive suburbs where they have lost contact with the young children they were fighting for. I guess they had a duty to perform and kept their promise to dismantle apartheid, if that is all they were fighting for.

But what is the solution to the problem now?

We are at the extremely important phase of our development. What the 1976 generation did should be practiced by today’s youth on a daily basis. If today’s young adults fail to teach them or the young do not adapt this approach, the African child is doomed.

It is about more than demanding the government levels the playing field or makes provisions of basic needs like schools, books and qualified teachers. That should be taken for granted.

For today’s young people to conquer the bleak township experience they must first conquer their own demons: self-doubt, lack of focus and discipline and, above all, fear. The essence of liberation in the 21st century is: young people must master themselves to control their own destiny.

Freedom and the attainment of personal goals is, first of all, an inside job where you do not blame any forces or factors outside for what happens or does not happen to you.

If the young learn to be responsible for their own lives and lead themselves, there will be no reason for them to look at others for leadership or deliverance.

Instead there will automatically be a quality of vision and self-fulfillment in their lives.

No one can give you that. This is what I learnt from the 1976 generation, even if they have become irrelevant adults.